NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT)’s, Organ Donation and Transplantation Directorate’s ‘Superhero’ roadshow is hitting the road with a tour of 15 universities across the country, inviting student freshers to heroically pledge the ‘gift of life’ by joining the
Organ Donor Register (ODR).
Students visiting the Freshers’ Fair roadshow will also be able to find out more about the
www.superhero-me.co.uk online marketing campaign. Users of the web-based application can turn themselves into superheroes, join the
ODR and spread the word by passing it on. And thousands have already done this since superhero-me was launched at the
V Festivals.
NHSBT’s Organ Donation marketing and campaigns manager, Angie Burton, said: “More than 7,890 people in the UK are currently waiting for an organ transplant and the sad fact is that over 1,000 of them will die while waiting due to an acute shortage of donors.”
Glenn Liddle, from Ellington, near Morpeth, in Northumberland, is a mature student at Newcastle University. At the age of 41, he is going to do an MA in Creative Writing.
He suffered from end-stage hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and underwent a heart transplant at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle on 5 August last year after being on the transplant list for seven months.
Glenn said: “Having the heart transplant has made an enormous difference to my life. By the time I had my operation, I had virtually zero mobility and a very poor quality of life. Now I walk about four miles a day and feel as if I have started my life again.”
He added: Organ donation can help to transform lives dramatically. It is a precious gift and it is hard to put into words just how important it really is.
“Having a heart transplant has, quite apart from saving my life, given me back the confidence and drive to get on and actually enjoy my life; one of the simplest and cheapest of all human pleasures that we often take for granted when we are well.
“When I originally decided that I would like to further my studies and go to university I was too ill to do anything about it. Now that I have had the operation, and have been accepted onto my degree course, it has given me an enormous sense of achievement and pride. Without this operation, I would never have had the chance to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity.
“I would encourage anyone that possibly can to please join the NHS Organ Donor Register and help to save more lives in the unfortunate event of their death; there are so many people waiting – many of them still very young with dreams just waiting to be fulfilled.
“I do not know anything about my donor, but I will always be eternally grateful to both them and their family for helping me – and many others – to get our lives back. Register today and you could help to save not one but many lives.”
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